HR in one lesson
Human resources is the function that manages an organisation’s relationship with the people who work for it. A useful way to see the whole field is the employee lifecycle: the stages a person passes through from first hearing about a job to leaving the organisation.
| Stage | What happens | Typical HR work and documents |
|---|---|---|
| Attract | People become aware of the organisation as an employer. | Employer branding, careers page, job postings. |
| Recruit | Candidates apply, are assessed, and one is selected. | Job descriptions, screening, interviews, offers. Managed in an applicant tracking system (ATS). |
| Onboard | The new hire becomes a productive, connected employee. | Paperwork, welcome messages, equipment, training plans, 30-60-90 day plans. |
| Develop | Employees build skills and grow. | Training, coaching, career paths, performance reviews. |
| Engage and retain | Employees stay motivated and choose to stay. | Engagement surveys, recognition, manager support, internal communication. |
| Reward | Employees are paid and receive benefits. | Compensation structures, benefits enrolment, payroll coordination. |
| Separate | Employees leave, voluntarily or not. | Exit interviews, offboarding checklists, final pay, knowledge transfer. |
The functions inside an HR department
| Function | What it does |
|---|---|
| Talent acquisition (recruiting) | Finds, assesses and hires people. Works with a hiring manager, the person the new hire will report to. |
| Onboarding | Gets new hires set up, informed and connected. Broader than orientation, which is the first-day or first-week introduction. |
| Learning and development (L&D) | Builds skills through training and coaching. |
| Performance management | Sets goals, gives feedback, evaluates performance. |
| Compensation and benefits (total rewards) | Designs pay, bonus and benefit programmes. |
| Employee relations | Handles workplace concerns, conflicts, investigations and discipline. |
| HR operations | Runs the administration: records, letters, data changes, answering routine questions. |
| People analytics | Turns workforce data into insight. Data usually lives in the HRIS (human resources information system), the system of record for employee data. |
| Compliance | Makes sure employment practices follow the law and company policy. |
Two more terms you will meet often. An HR business partner (HRBP) is an HR generalist assigned to advise the leaders of a particular business unit. A policy states a rule (“employees accrue 15 days of paid time off per year”); a procedure states how to follow it (“submit requests in the HR portal”); a handbook collects policies for employees.
- HR decisions change people’s lives. Who gets hired, promoted, paid more or dismissed are among the most consequential decisions an organisation makes about a person.
- HR data is sensitive. It includes health information, pay, performance, family circumstances, and characteristics protected by anti-discrimination law.
- HR is heavily regulated. Discrimination law applies whether a decision is made by a person, a spreadsheet or an AI system.
- HR depends on trust. Employees who believe a machine is quietly judging them will disengage, whatever the efficiency gain.
The practical consequence, which the rest of the course builds on: the closer an AI use sits to a decision about an individual person, the more care it needs. Drafting a welcome email is low risk. Ranking job applicants is high risk.
Jot down key ideas in your own words. Saves automatically.